ISRC and metadata checker

Check a code

Nothing is sent anywhere. There is no public registry that will tell you whether a code has been issued, so this checks structure and check digits only — a code can be perfectly formed and belong to somebody else.

Ordered by what it costs you to leave blank, not by what a delivery form marks with an asterisk. Tick what you actually have.

• Track title, exactly as it should appearneededOnce it is live, changing it means a takedown and a re-release on most services, and the old version keeps accruing streams under the old name.
• Version or mix, in brackets"(Radio Edit)", "(Instrumental)". Without it, two versions of one song collide in search and in reporting, and the wrong one gets pitched.
• Primary artist, spelled consistentlyneededA society matches on the string. "DJ Smith" and "DJ Smith" are two different payees.
• ISRCneededThe recording's identifier. Every stream, every broadcast detection and every royalty line matches on it. A wrong one pays somebody else.
• ISWCThe composition's identifier, issued by your society. Without it, the publishing side of a broadcast use is much harder to trace back to you.
• Writers with splits totalling 100%neededThe single most common reason a work sits unregistered. A society will not guess.
• Publisher and PRO affiliation for each writerneededThe publishing share is paid to the publisher, not the writer. A blank here means the collecting society has nowhere to send half the money.
• UPC of the releaseneededTies the track to the product that is actually being sold. Sales reports come back keyed on it.
• ℗ line — year and owner of the recordingneededThis is the copyright notice for the master. It is what somebody reads to work out who to ask for a licence.
• © line — year and owner of the compositionneededDifferent right, different owner, frequently confused with the ℗ line and just as often left blank.
• Explicit / clean flagneededGet it wrong and the track is ineligible for playlists and for most advertising use, which is where the money is.
• Language of the lyricsDrives editorial and algorithmic placement in a lot of markets. An instrumental should be marked as such rather than left empty.
• Genre and sub-genreneededThe coarsest search filter there is. A track filed under the wrong one is invisible to the people looking for it.
• Moods and descriptive tagsHow a music supervisor actually searches. Nobody types a genre into a sync brief; they type "tense", "triumphant", "slow build".
• BPM and keyEditors cut to tempo. A missing BPM takes you out of half the searches on any sync library.
• Whether it is one-stop, and who to callA supervisor on a deadline will skip a track rather than chase two rights holders. Saying it clears with one signature is the whole pitch.

10 things still missing that money depends on: track title, exactly as it should appear; primary artist, spelled consistently; isrc; writers with splits totalling 100%; publisher and pro affiliation for each writer; upc of the release; ℗ line — year and owner of the recording; © line — year and owner of the composition; explicit / clean flag; genre and sub-genre.